[Synapse elist] cultural conformity and drifting metaphors

[Melinda Rackham]

hi everyone
  - ive just gotten an opportunity to read through the posts  and am  
really enjoying the discussion !
two things spiring to mind..

10 years ago when i was investigating the dissolving natural/ 
artificial/species divide,  and i did a lot of research on the  
symborg body  and the biological augmented body - augmented by  
viruses or diseases or medication or data enhancement, and i wanted  
to share this lovely quote from Helen Chadwick :

'The living integrates with other in an infinite continuity of  
matter, and welcomes difference not as damage but potential. ...  
Spliced together by  data processing, these are not ruined  
catastrophic surfaces but territories of prolific encounter, the  
exchange of living informational systems at the shoreline of culture.'


My second though is about Anne McCaffrey s The Ship Who Sang (1969)   
short story about a"shellperson" Helva   -a cyborg who as young  
physically disabled but highly intelligent child was hardwired into a  
life support system, with sensory input and motor nerves tied into a  
computer. . augmented and made into a differently functioning social  
utility/servent.

In this sf future this is how all people born differently are  
treated..  mccaffery's characters are framed as heros serving as  
starship pilots, colony administrators ect, for several centuries to  
pay off their debt for education and hardware - and then they can  
choose life as a  free agents.

There is whole series of  stories which deal with the various  
adventures of 'shellpersons'
     * PartnerShip (1992) with Margaret Ball,
     * The Ship Who Searched (1992) with Mercedes Lackey, I
     * The City Who Fought (1993) with S.M. Stirling,
     * The Ship Who Won (1994) with Jody Lynn Nye,


warm regards,
Melinda

++++++++++++
Dr Melinda Rackham
Executive Director
Australian Network for Art and Technology
+61 (0)8 8231 9037
+61 (0)410 596 592
http://www.anat.org.au
director at anat.org.au

Australian Network for Art and Technology (ANAT) is generously  
supported by the Australian Government through the Australia Council,  
its arts funding and advisory body, the South Australian Government  
through Arts SA, and the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, an  
initiative of the Australian, State and Territory Governments.



On 27/05/2008, at 7:46 AM, Vicki wrote:

> On 27/5/08 9:26 PM, "ju90" <mail at ju90.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> It is ironic that wheelchair use, which is also very much about  
>> enhancing function rather than conforming to the norm, carries  
>> such stigma [...] The possibilities offered by augmented  
>> wheelchairs are endless [....] a wheelchair augmented with  
>> everything from a camera and whisky dispenser to a rocket launcher  
>> and helicopter blades.
>
> This immediately brings to mind Brad’s fantastic work, Machine Gun  
> Walker, which I’ve temporarily put an image of at the following  
> location:
>
> http://www.synapse.net.au/people/elist_discussion
>
>
> Regards
> Vicki
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